Bond it, don’t break it! The benefits of using UV adhesives on glass

Drilling holes and cutting notches in glass panels is a specialist and skilled operation. It often involves a third party, extra processing time, transportation and cost. Not to mention the risk of breakage. UV-cure adhesives can remove the headache from fitting door handles, hinges, extrusions, and various fixtures and fittings to glass panels.

Benefits of UV-cure Glass Adhesives

1. UV-cure adhesives cure in seconds on exposure to UV-light. They can create a high strength bonds between glass and metal or plastic. Eliminating the need to drill through the glass or use fasteners or fixings. This allows for a much more aesthetically pleasing, cleaner finish. Often desired by contemporary furniture or bathroom designers and manufacturers who are keen to move away from chunky fixings and unsightly nuts and bolts.
2. UV-cure adhesive material stays liquid until exposed to UV-light, allowing accurate alignment of parts. When ready, shine the UV light on the joint, and within seconds, the adhesive will cure.  UV lamps can be sourced quite easily from electrical goods specialists or even over the internet. Small battery powered handheld LED lamps are now available online. They cost less than $15 and are sufficient to cure most UV-curable adhesives through glass.
3. UV-adhesives are a permanent way of bonding glass and, depending on the environment they are in, should last indefinitely. It is a good idea when bonding glass to metal to look for an adhesive product with high elongation characteristics. This means any stress from differential thermal expansion and contraction between the substrates will be absorbed by the adhesive and less likely to stress the glass.

Silicone-based adhesives are often associated with glass bonding but these can be very messy to use, very slow curing, unsightly and not very strong. UV-cure adhesives tackle these adhesive pitfalls by creating optically clear, clean and very high strength bonds – within seconds!

For further help and advice, please contact Permabond.